


"Love Birds" or some cheesy shit idk I'm bad at titles

by Seven_alight



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon compliant for now, Depends on How I'm Feeling, F/M, Healthy Dose of Angst Sometimes, I'm Spelling it Hanji - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Sometimes I'll Try to be Funny, Takes Place Before Events of Manga, female Hanji, lots o fluff, possible future smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-05 16:43:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12193749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seven_alight/pseuds/Seven_alight
Summary: Two people in love that have no fucking clue. Just whatever funny/romantic/angsty situations I can dream up for my favorite ship.





	1. Hanji is in Desperate Need of a Bath

**Author's Note:**

> I got about ten chapters partially written so expect more in the near future. They can all probably be stand alone chapters for now but might become more interconnected later. Basically I write whatever I feel like at the time while till staying true to how I believe their characters would react in that situation. My first public fic so be gentle with me, but would love constructive criticism in comments. Hope you enjoy!

She had fully lost all sense of time. How long had she been sitting in that room? Hours? Days? She was completely unaware of the last time she had eaten, slept, or even left that room. Suddenly aware of the overwhelming urge to urinate she leapt from her chair to rush to the bathroom. The act of standing intensified this urge and sprinting was all she could do to prevent herself from pissing her pants. Judging by how long she peed for it had probably been some time since she last relived herself. She was almost at a tipping point in her research and could feel the answers just barely out of reach. Now wasn't the time to be sidetracked by silly things like food or sleep. 

Exiting the bathroom, she came face to face, or rather chest to face, with a certain rather short colleague who did not seem too pleased at the moment. 

“Hanji! What. Do you. Think. You’re. Doing?” He hissed, making sure to put every ounce of displeasure he could muster into each word, with his voice rising slightly as the sentence progressed. 

“Well, as you can see Levi, I’ve just gone to the restroom. Something I’m sure you can appreciate considering your complete obsession with human feces.” Hanji retorted, knowing completely well what he was actually referring to. 

Her room, turned makeshift science laboratory, was in a complete state of disarray. Single sheets of paper littered every inch of the floor, old dishes thick with mold were stacked in piles knee high, and there was a distinct smell to the room that could only be described as putrid. 

Levi appeared as if he was too aggravated to even speak and Hanji was deliberating whether or not she should take that time to defend herself or continue playing dumb when his rampage started. 

“How could you let it get this bad! I can’t even see the floor, there’s dust everywhere! Do you even know what it smells like in here, or have to grown acclimated to your own filth?”. 

At this point Hanji spaced out completely, having heard nearly the exact same lecture numerous times before. Judging by previous encounters this was likely to go on for about ten minutes or so and she decided to allocate that precious time to contemplating what steps she should take next in her research. She was vaguely aware that Levi was reaching the height of his rant when her stomach let out a horrendous sound loud enough to jar her out of her own reverie. She met eyes with Levi, who had ceased speaking, having also been caught off guard by the noise. After a short pause he turned on his heels and made for the door. 

“You better have brushed your teeth by the time I get back.” He snipped before slamming the door behind him. 

Hanji decided to comply with his demands since she had not completed her thought before her stomach growled and she could do this while cleaning up a bit. By the time she finished and exited the bathroom there was a tray of food piled precariously high on her desk and a grumbling Levi hunched over on the floor starting to clean. 

“You better not throw any of those papers away, they are important.”

“If they were so important I don’t think you would be storing them on the floor.” He shot back, but then placed the large stack of papers he had collected in a neat pile on her desk near the microscope. 

There was nothing like the taste of food after a long time without it and Hanji greedily devoured the entire tray. 

“If you’re done then go take a bath.” Levi commanded, without pause, as he scraped an unknown substance from the bedside table. 

Hanji stole away to the bathroom after she quietly shoved the papers she had been working on under her shirt. Levi was so enthralled with his cleaning that he probably wouldn’t even notice that Hanji wasn’t bathing and she had just bought herself another few hours of uninterrupted work. She ran the bath and got undressed just in case she had to hurriedly jump in and then set to work. She was actually quite productive considering that she was working on the floor of her bathroom with nothing but a few pieces of parchment and a pencil. She had postulated possible reasons for the strange observations she had made during her microscopic evaluation of titan tissue over the past few days and all that was needed now was to test these hypotheses. She was at a good stopping point and decided that she could reward herself with an actual full nights sleep and pick back up the next day. 

She had just finished writing the procedure for her first experiment when the room became eerily quiet. There was no more shifting of furniture or quite grumbling, just long uninterrupted silence. She guessed that Levi had probably realized that she had been in the bathroom for way too long and would come busting in at any moment. She hurriedly tried to hide the papers she had been working on and get in the tub, but to no avail. The door flew open just as she shoved the papers behind the mirror, but they were clearly visible. 

Levi had seen Hanji naked, or rather nearly naked, numerous times before. She had never cared much about normal social etiquette and this was one of the things he enjoyed so much about her. There had been many occasions in which she nearly gave new recruits heart attack when she would casually stroll into the dinning hall in underwear and a dirty t-shirt to grab a quick bite. This being said, Levi couldn’t help himself from becoming embarrassed and flustered every time he saw this, even when others had long gotten used to it. Of course he was very good at hiding his emotions and never let anyone onto this. 

After busting into the room Levi screamed, or the closest he ever got to screaming which was only a few octaves above his talking voice, “What have you been doing this whole time, its been hours?” 

She knew that he knew full well what she had been doing and just gave a little guilty smile as if to say “sorry, not sorry”. 

This was too much for Levi, he could feel the blood rush to his cheeks and he needed to hide his face fast, so he did the only thing he could think of. He crossed the room in two long strides, scooped Hanji up off the ground then threw her into the tub. The water had been sitting there for hours and had long since cooled. Hanji emerged coughing and spiting out of the water and rubbing her sore butt that had hit the hard porcelain bottom of the tub. 

“It’s cold!” She shouted through her hacking. 

“It would have been warm if you had bathed when I told you to.” Levi pointed out. 

“God if you want something done you have to do it yourself.” He muttered under his breath as he emptied half a bottle of shampoo onto her head. 

Levi made sure that he was completely concentrated on washing her hair and didn’t allow his eyes to wander elsewhere. By the time he was done with lathering the water had clearly changed into a brownish color resembling that of the stream running through camp. 

“Well, your hair is clean at least. You’re going to need to take a shower to clean the rest of you, this water is much too dirty to do you any good. And I’m going to have to go shower as well all your shifting and splashing covered me in this putrid liquid,” he muttered, not hiding the malice in his tone. 

In all honesty he had not actually hated washing Hanji’s hair. Once the grease had washed out it was quite beautiful, and this was the first time he had seen Hanji without her glasses on. But of course he would not let her know this. 

“Thanks Levi! I honesty have never felt my hair be this clean before. I’m bad at that type of stuff.” She then stood up, drained the tub, and turned on the shower. 

“They say you’re humanities smartest, but you cant even wash your own hair properly,” Levi joked, and then whispered under his breath, “Honestly you’re a grown ass adult”. 

He turned and headed for the door, eager to go wash the dirt from himself and get a fresh pair of clothes, when he was stopped my Hanji’s voice. 

“Aren’t you getting in?” 

“Wha-” He stammered, sure that he must have misheard her. 

“You said you needed to shower didn’t you? Aren’t you going to get in?” 

Levi had no idea how to respond. He knew Hanji didn’t give a rat’s ass about nudity, and honestly he didn’t really didn’t care much either, but could they really just shower together so casually? His shower in his own room had been broken and so he would have to use the communal showers in the barracks. The thought of taking a shower surrounded by countless numbers of unknown germs from dozens of filthy cadets was unimaginable. Besides, Hanji’s shower couldn’t be that dirty if she never used it. Eventually he decided that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal and would make up for all that water they wasted for Hanji’s bath. 

“Sure, I guess.” He replied to her invitation then began to strip. 

Hanji knew full well that this was not normally considered appropriate, but something about Levi getting to see her naked, but her not getting to see him seemed unfair. She wanted them to be on level playing fields. It also would have been a lie to say that she wasn’t curious about his naked form, he was humanities strongest after all. Even with that in mind she was still surprised about how muscular Levi truly was. Even for survey corps standard, which where pretty high, he was impressive. The water running down his back worked to highlight his musculature, accentuating the crests and valleys in his skin. 

Seeing Hanji stare at him Levi felt blood rush to his face and turned to face the faucet to hide his embarrassment. He quickly wet and washed his hair then switched places with Hanji so she could have access to the water and he could begin his vigorous cleaning routine. 

He was midway though scrubbing his chest when Hanji sputtered, “hey Levi”, but her voice sounded strange, like she was trying to talk without opening her mouth. He turned around to be immediately squirted in the the face with the mouthful of water Hanji had stored in her cheeks. She roared with laughter, practically falling over from her intense cackling. Levi just stood there, livid that she had gotten germs all over him, when inspiration struck. He picked up the soap bottle and squirted a huge glob directly into her gaping mouth, which was wide open from laughing. A look of pure disgust contorted her face as she spit out the soap and fruitlessly tried to wash the taste out of her mouth. The look of her standing there helplessly trying to catch as much water as she could from the shower head was hilarious and for the first time in a very long time Levi laughed. Not just a chuck either, a full out, stomach cramping laugh. 

“That’s not fair,” Hanji shouted, “that was way worse than what I did to you!” But she had successfully washed most of the soap taste out and her smile was quickly returning. “You know I really like it when you laugh,” she remarked right before she reached out and began tickling Levi’s sides. 

This was his only weakness, one which he had taken much effort to conceal, but Hanji had found it. 

“Hanji stop, hahaha, I’ll murder you, hahaha, I swear to God”, he gasped a few word at a time though chuckles. 

“Fine, two can play at that game.” He said as he reached for her exposed arm pits.

Apparently she was also ticklish because she immediately retracted her arms from his sides and attempted to block his access to her underarms while giggling copiously. This continued back and forth for about a minute or so before Levi realized how absolutely ridiculous it was. Had her insanity worn off on him? How did he let himself stoop this low? But he had to admit this was by far the most fun he had had sober, or not for that matter, in ages. 

He coughed awkwardly, “We’d better get out, we are wasting water.” 

“You just don’t want to be tickled anymore,” Hanji observed, “ but fine you’re right.” 

They both exited and dried off and Levi made a mental note that he would end up having to use the recruit’s shower after all since he had not been able to finish his washing routine. 

“I have work to do.” Levi said flatly, returning to his normal self and heading for the door. 

“Thanks again Levi!” Hanji shouted at him on his way out.

He quickly rushed off to who knows where, anywhere but there. What was wrong with him? That whole situation was completely crazy and weird and he couldn’t make sense of all the feeling he was having. But there was one thing he couldn’t deny. He had truly enjoyed himself. Something that was rare and precious in the survey corps, something that should not be taken for granted.


	2. Now it's Levi's Turn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi is feeling angsty and needs bath snuggles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I was going to post a different chapter today, but Word crashed and deleted four pages of work:( I don't know why I never learn my lesson and just use google docs. Anyways, I hope you can enjoy this much shorter chapter instead while I attempt motivate myself to rewrite the other one and not punch a hole in my wall.

Nudity had become normalized for Levi and Hanji and now if Hanji neglected her hygiene for more than a week he would burst into her room, drag her away from her research and force clean her. On this particular day Hanji was in the middle of rereading the results from an old experiment she had preformed years ago when Levi burst into her room proclaiming how filthy she was and how she needed a shower. 

“But its only been two days since my last one and I’m in the middle of…” Hanji began to protest before she turned around and saw the look on Levi’s face. 

To the untrained eye it may have looked like his normal neutral appearance, but Hanji had been friends with Levi for years and had learned to tell the subtle differences in his expressions, and she could tell that something was definitely wrong. 

“Ok” she began, “but how about we take a bath this time?” 

“Anything is fine as long as it will get you clean”. 

They ran the bath in silence and when it was full Levi slipped in. However, instead of getting in on the other side of the tub where there was plenty of room, Hanji slipped in right behind Levi and stuck her legs on either side of him. She then pulled him back so he was leaning up against her and placed his head right in the crook of her neck. Levi was too mentally exhausted to feign objection and just let her do this. They sat in silence for a while before Hanji finally spoke. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Talk about what, how filthy you are? How much time I waste just trying to get you clean?” 

“About whatever is upsetting you.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about four-eyes” he spat back with a little more venom than intended. This didn’t affect Hanji and she calmly replied,

"Levi something is clearly bothering you and I want to be able to help you, but you have to let me in.” 

This was too much for the emotionally independent Levi who usually did all he could to hide his emotions. He realized how stupid it was of him to come here and stated, “this is ridiculous, you aren’t a shrink, nor a child. Bath yourself,” and stood to leave. 

Or at least attempted to stand. Hanji had wrapped her legs around his waist, hooked her feet together, and grabbed hold of the edge of the tub, rendering him unable to stand. 

“Let me go” he demanded harshly. No answer. “I said let me go, Hanji I’m not dealing with this shit right now!” 

“Bottling up your emotions is unhealthy, especially for people that go though as much shit was we do. I’m not saying you have to talk to me, but talk to someone. I’m worried about you Levi and talking about these things isn’t a sign of weakness. It actually takes a lot a strength to say them out loud, its better for everyone in the long run.” 

She was talking very fast, almost too fast from him to understand and it wasn’t clear is she was speaking more to him or herself.   
Levi was humanities strongest, but Hanji was a squad leader and, therefor, extremely capable herself. Levi could overpower her, but not without great effort, and even then she would probably think of a way to outsmart him and still eventually win. He sighed, gave up, and relaxed back onto Hanji’s chest. 

“Your right I know, I’m just too tired to talk right now. Just.." He fell silent for a few moments before speaking again, but much more quietly, "let me lay here for a bit,” his voice continued to trail off to a near whisper, “please”.

Hanji could hear the anguish and defeat in his tone and her heart ached for her friend. She knew all too well the pain that working in their profession inevitably entailed and had been there herself and with Levi and others many times before. She stroked Levi’s hair and tried to match her breathing to his in an attempt to calm him. It appeared to work because within five minutes he was fast asleep. 

When Levi awoke he was dressed in standard issue pajamas and tucked beneath the covers of a bed that was not his own. He rolled over to see Hanji asleep at her desk on a pile of research papers. A slight panic washed over him as he recalled how disgusting her bed was until he realized that the precarious stain he had spotted earlier was absent. Hanji must have hauled ass all the way across the facility to get clean sheets and blankets from the laundry. Levi couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. He loved this mutually supportive relationship they maintained together. As much as he hated to admit it she took care of him as much as he took care of her. It was nice to know someone had his back both in and outside the walls. They both desperately needed someone to look after them and maybe they were the only people crazy enough to do that for each other. After gingerly replacing the spot he had once occupied in the the bed with a sleeping Hanji, Levi slipped quietly out the door and headed for his room.


	3. Veterans fucking with the cute couple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi is upset and Erwin, Mike, and Nanaba are out to figure out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning there is basically no Hanji/Levi interactions in this chapter, just the veterans messing with them and finding their relationship endlessly amusing. Feel free to skip this chapter if you're not into that. Hope you enjoy!

Levi was getting on Erwin’s last nerve. For that past week or so he had been even more pissed off than normal, which was truly saying something. Of course this didn’t faze Erwin one bit, he was there when Levi first joined the corps and was about thirty thousand times worse than now. But Levi was really starting to scare some of the younger soldiers who weren’t quite used to this behavior. They hadn’t lost any comrades for sometime so Erwin knew it probably wasn’t anything serious that was bothering Levi. Besides, he didn’t handle those sorts of feeling by taking them out on other as he was now, but rather internalizing them. Honestly he seemed more annoyed than anything. It wasn’t unlike Levi to get this way sometimes, but it was usually when Hanji was in the middle of a project that he wasn’t allowed to bother her during, or when he was forced to work with a particularly inept group of new recruits. However, neither of these scenarios were taking place now so Erwin was at a loss as to what brought on this sudden mood swing. 

At times like these he needed to seek council with the very few people that could possibly have any insight into Levi’s inner working, so he went to look for Mike and Nananba. He found them in the dining hall sitting together, thankfully far enough away from anyone that their conversation would not be overheard. Erwin plopped down on the opposite side of the table from them with a heavy sigh. 

“Alright, either of you know what’s wrong with Levi?”

Nanaba scoffed, “Probably what’s always wrong with him.”

It was painfully obvious to the three of them that Hanji and Levi had feeling for each other, though Erwin wasn’t too worried about rumors of this spreading. To anyone who hadn’t known them both for as long as the veterans their actions were about as far away from flirting as humanly possible.

“Obviously I though about that, but Hanji’s not in the middle of any experiments, plus I saw her this morning and it looked like she was clean and regularly eating so I don’t know what he’s got up his ass.”

“I’m sure she’s unintentionally doing something stupid, there’s never any other reason for when he gets like this.” Nanaba offered.

“She right,” Mike agreed, “the only solution is probably to go and pry the reason directly from Hanji herself.” 

“Ya, your probably right,” Erwin concurred, “alright, one of you go and talk to her and report back to me anything you discover.” 

By the time he had finished the sentence Nanaba had disappeared, it was actually quite impressive, Erwin hadn’t even seen her move. Mike remained, but had a distinct look of displeasure on his face that made it quite obvious he was not keen on the idea. 

“You know I’d love to help,” Mike began sarcastically, “but I know that this is about the only form of entertainment you have and I couldn’t possibly take that away from you. I at least have Nanaba.” 

He wasn’t wrong, watching two emotionally inept adults fruitlessly struggling to realize their feelings for each other while awkwardly flirting over poop jokes and bad nicknames was about the most entertaining thing to do in the Survey Corps that didn’t involve murder. But watching from the sides and getting involved were two very different things. 

“Mike you know I can’t get involved, could you imagine if I somehow wound up on one, or both of their bad sides? I’d be a dead man.”

“Well it’s the only solution I can think of so someone’s going to have to bite the bullet and it sure as hell ain’t going to be me.” 

Erwin sighed, Mike was right, Levi was his responsibility after all and it was his job to keep the corps running properly, which sometimes meant parenting thirty-year-olds. “Fine, but if I show up floating dead in a river the suspects list should consist of two people.” 

“Good Luck!” Mike yelled after him as he exited the dining hall and headed for the lab. 

“Hey Erwin!” Hanji greeted as he stepped through the doorway. 

She was hunched over some papers on her desk facing the opposite wall. Her ability to identify people without looking at them had always been unnerving for Erwin. According to her, it had something to do with the effect of stride length on timing and weight on the volume of the steps. 

“Hello Hanji, how is your research treating you?” 

At this she pealed her eyes from the reports and looked up at her commander, no way could she miss a potential opportunity to talk about titans. 

“Good, but slow for now. We need to get more test subjects pleeeease Erwin!” She begged, but there was a hint of relief in her tone. She had been working herself to death recently and Erwin made a mental note that he should really look into getting her an assistant. But finding someone smart enough to carry out research and also capable of dealing with Hanji’s let say “unique” personality was no easy feat. More importantly, Erwin’s assumption that she was not currently tied up in a project was true, meaning something else was upsetting Levi. 

“I’ll look into making it part of the next expedition’s objectives. On a completely unrelated matter, have you noticed anything wrong with Levi lately?”

“Hmm,” she pondered for a moment “ya he has been particularly easily annoyed recently, but that’s nothing to worry too much about, he gets like that sometimes.” 

“I know,” Erwin replied, "but he’s scaring some of the newer recruits. You wouldn’t happen to know the cause of it, would you?” 

She thought for a moment before responding, “I think your guess is probably as good as mine.” 

Erwin squinted at her suspiciously. “Is that really true Hanji?” 

This gave the scientist a good chuckle. “Haha, look Erwin I know I’m usually the main cause of Levi’s annoyance, but I promise you it’s not me this time. I’ve been good this past week.” 

He picked up on a few key word from that sentence. Specifically, “this past week”, exactly when Levi had started this behavior. Erwin was now nearly certain that whatever “being good” entailed was the cause of this whole situation. 

“And what exactly do you mean by being good, squad leader?” 

“Well one of the younger soldier mentioned that she would never have the balls to touch Levi as much as I do. I never really thought about it, but I am always hanging all over the poor guy. You know how I am Erwin, never really understood personal space and when I get really excited I just can’t help myself.” I

t was true that in her excitement Hanji would latch onto the closest soldier regardless of their identity, but luckily for the whole of the survey corps nine times out of ten the closest soldier was Levi. 

“Well I know that Levi really doesn’t like to be touched that much so I’ve been restraining myself. I haven’t even poked him once is the past week!” She finished proudly.

This was nearly too much for Erwin and it took every ounce of self control not to burst out laughing right there and then. Squad captain Levi, humanities strongest soldier, was upset that he wasn’t getting his daily snuggles. And squad leader Hanji Zoe, humanities smartest soldier, was too stupid to realize what she was doing to him. 

“Ah, well, I’ll ask the others and see if they might know anything, good work.” He managed to get out in a level tone before swiftly turning and heading out the door and down the hall as fast as possible without raising suspicion. 

He was able to get all the way to Mike’s quarters before loosing it. It took Nanaba and Mike a good five minutes to calm him down enough to tell them the story. Of course it took the other two veterans equally as long to stifle their laughter once they heard the tale. 

“Well how in the hell are we going to fix this?” Nanaba wondered aloud once the giggles had subsided. 

“Someone is going to have to tell Levi and hope he has the balls to stop her.” Mike offered. 

“You may be right,” Erwin admitted, “But I seriously doubt I have the ability to keep a straight face through another one of those conversations. It really can’t be me doing it this time.” 

Nanaba began to make her escape again before Mike quickly stopped her. 

“Oh calm down, I’ll do it. Besides, I already have a plan.” 

Erwin may have been the mastermind behind all the survey corps strategies, but that didn’t mean Mike didn’t have a few tricks up his sleeve.

 

Mike sniffed Levi out from a mile away. The stench of cleaning supplies wafting from the kitchen was strong enough that even a man with normal olfactory abilities would have been able to sense it. He found Levi elbow deep in a cabinet that only saw the light of day when he was on one of his frustration fueled cleaning sprees. Mike made a point of dramatically sighing as he entered the room. 

“Listen Levi,” he commanded, “you’ve got to do something about Hanji, the woman’s been all over me for the past week. I every time I see her she’s got to hug me or stroke my hair while she raves on about those damn titans.” 

Mike was sure this would get Levi riled up. Not only was he getting all of Hanji’s attention, but he wasn’t even appreciating it properly. But Mike had underestimated Levi’s ability to keep his composure. 

The man didn’t even miss beat and continued scrubbing as he retorted, “And how is that my problem? At least she isn’t doing it to me anymore.” 

“Well it’s your fault you know.” This peeked Levi’s interest, though he remained diligently polishing the cabinet. In the absence of a response Mike kept talking. 

“Apparently one of the soldiers made a comment about how you don’t like to be touched and Hanji felt guilty about how she’s always molesting you so she’s trying to stop. Which means I'm now the recipient of her incessant groping"

“Tch,” was all that escaped Levi’s mouth as Mike continued. 

“I understand that women need cuddles sometimes, but honestly she’s just too aggressive about it.” To be honest Mike knew that he could stop here but he was having so much fun and wanted to see just how far he could push Levi. 

After a slight pause he continued, “Your right Levi this isn’t your problem, I’m sorry. I’ll just go tell her that I’ll hold her any time she needs me to as long as she asks and isn’t so intrusive about it.” 

With that Levi abruptly stood, removed his gloves, threw them in a bucked and headed for the exit. 

“I guess I can help you out just this once Mike, since I still owe you for saving me on the expedition a few months back. Besides, what would Nanaba think if she saw you all nestled up with another woman. God don’t you have any tact?” 

“You’re a lifesaver pal,” Mike yelled after the captain, feeling very proud of his manipulation skills. 

Exiting the kitchen as well he headed back to his quarters where Erwin and Nanaba were surely anxiously awaiting his return. They were undoubtedly in for a great night of laughing at the expense of their moronic comrades and probably some high proof liquor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally retyped this whole chapter after word crashed! I'm sure the original was better and I honestly got bored with it the second time around so sorry if quality is lacking. Also, it is three in the morning and I'm just a little bit tipsy, so keep that in mind lol.


	4. My Version of Hanji's Backstory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Hanji like the only main character that doesn’t have a backstory??? Well I guess I’ll just have to write one myself, and it will probably be 1,000 times worse than anything Hajime Isayama can dream up because there is seriously something wrong with me. Anyways this is like 100% angst, I’m serious DO NOT read this unless you want to be depressed for the next 12 years, just skip the chapter.

Levi and Hanji were in the middle of an extremely heated argument. This was new territory for them as they were both the usually type who were able to make a joke out of almost any situation. But for some reason this time Hanji was not yielding. It had started as a disagreement about how to discipline a soldier who had abandoned her duties without proper leave to go visit her children who were in town and escalated from there. 

They were reaching the apex of the fight when Levi made one of the stupidest mistakes of his entire life by shouting harshly, “What do you know, you’re not a mother!” 

“Ya, well I USED TO BE!” Hanji screamed back, losing all semblance of self restraint, her voice raising to levels no one in the survey corps had ever heard. 

Every ounce of blood drained from Levi’s face and a sense of dreed wash over him unlike anything he had felt since Isabel and Farlan died. No words could be pushed past his throat, which was not a problem considering he couldn’t possibly think of anything to say. How could he have been so fucking stupid? He stood there, dumbfounded, for however long it took for Hanji to turn on her heels and leave the room, then remained unmoved for several minutes afterwards. 

After nearly thirty minutes of deliberating what was the best course of action Levi decided to head to Hanji’s room, even if she probably never wanted to see him again. He could hear her crying even from outside the doorway. It wasn’t the soft subdued crying that he had seen from her before, but loud, wet, uncontrolled sobbing. What right did he have to comfort her? After all, he was the cause of her pain. Levi leaned against the door and slowly slid down it till he was sitting on the ground, his knees pulled to his chest. A drop of liquid darkened his white pants and Levi raised a hand to his eye, only to pull away when it too became moistened. Why was he crying? Hanji was the one in pain. But he could feel her pain, deep in his chest and with each muffled sob that came from behind the door so too came another tear rolling down Levi’s cheeks. 

“Hanji” He croaked, his voice cracking noticeably in the middle of the word. The room went silent, but there was no reply. 

“Can I come in…please?” He begged. But still the room remained noiseless. 

“Just… knock once for yes and twice for no, ok?" 

After a quick pause a single knock echoed through the hallway. Levi’s heart nearly stopped as he waited for the second knock, but it never came. Taking a deep breath Levi whipped the tears from his face, rose, turned, and opened the door. 

The sight that greeted him wasn’t far from what he had expected, but no amount of mental preparation could ease the pain of it. It looked like a tornado had gone through the room and it wasn’t clear how much was caused by her normal untidiness and how much had been purposely thrown about in anger. There were two fist size holes in the wall that had not been there the day before and a number of areas with scratched paint and broken tableware shattered on the ground below them. And then there was Hanji. Curled up in the fetal position in the corner of her bed, shaking from suppressing her weeping. 

“Can I come sit next to you?” 

One knock served as Levi’s answer and he swiftly made his was to his best friend’s side. 

“I’m so sorry Hanji I- I didn’t know,” he began, his voice cracking again, “goddammit I’m such an idiot! Just tell me what I can do to make it better, make you better.” 

The tears had started to flow again and there was nothing he could do to stop them, nor did he particularly care in this moment. Hanji lifted her face from the pillow it was buried in in order to look up at him. If her heart wasn’t currently torn in half she might have been touched by the fact that he was crying for her.

“There’s no making it better, only coping, you probably know that better than anyone.” She stated rather matter-of-factly, there was no anger behind the word, only truth. 

“Ya,” Levi sighed, “I do.” 

“Can you just hold me for a bit?” She asked, sounding rather like a child. 

“Of course,” Levi breathed and she proceeded to crawl into his lap. He sat there gently rocking Hanji till her tear ducks ran dry. 

“It…it was a Tuesday morning when the coughing started… She was gone by nightfall on Wednesday.” 

The story was long from over, but Hanji paused for a long while, gathering the courage to continue. 

“Her name was-“ She stopped suddenly, feeling as if she was physically choking on the word. “Her name was Wren…and she was 14 month old.” 

After another extended pause Levi broke the silence. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.” He offered in am understanding tone. 

“No. I want to. I want to.” 

It was becoming easier to speak the father into the story she progressed and talking to someone about it felt like removing just a little bit of the burden. 

“The doctor never did figure out what was wrong, kids are just so fragile when they are young. The father and I broke up shortly after, we had only really stayed together in the first place for Wren. She wasn’t planned you see, I was only eighteen at the time. I joined the military the following year, I couldn’t live in that place anymore, too many memories.” 

Levi listened attentively, nodding along whenever Hanji ventured a glance up at him. 

“She was a genius ya know. Could already talk, not in complete sentences, but way more than most at that age. I swear she could understand me too. She would start crying in the middle of the night and I would say, ‘Wren, Mommy is very tired and would appreciate if you quieted down.’ And she would! Well seven times out of ten she would.” 

Hanji was actually cheering up a bit, recalling the fond memories. 

“She loved birds. An amateur ornithologist I always said, couldn’t take her eyes off of them. One time a goose almost bit her when she crawled too close to its nest.” 

Hanji stared emptily into space as she reminisced, a slight upward tilt at the corners of her lips. 

“Ya know, I saw a goose nest just the other day, I should bring her here this weekend to show it to-“ The sentence cut off when Hanji realized what she was saying. 

Levi could feel his heart break as every semblance of excitement abruptly drained from her, replaced only by sorrow. He squeezed the woman in his arms as tightly to his chest as he possibly could without hurting her. She held on equally as tight, the fabric of the back of his shirt the only thing stopping her fingernails from perforating the skin of her palms. They stayed this way for some time, Levi desperately trying to come up with the words to make it better. 

“She’s proud of you. The person you have become. The sacrifices you’ve made for humanity.” He stated knowingly. “She’s in the afterlife right now watching you, probably embraced by how big of a nerd her mother is.” This elicited a slight laugh from Hanji, which Levi chalked up as a huge success. 

Crying truly was exhausting and Hanji could feel her consciousness fading. Levi felt the death grip on his shirt gradually loosen and limp hands fall from his shoulder blades. He gingerly stood with a sleeping Hanji still cradled in his arms. It took some creative maneuvering, but he eventually got the covers pulled back and Hanji tucked in successfully without waking her. Even though it seemed somewhat intrusive, Levi stayed in her room for the rest of the night, just so he could be there if she woke up with a nightmare. The crying really must have taken a toll on her though, because she slept deeply through the night. Just before dawn Levi stole away to his own sleeping quarters and he made a promise to himself. A promise to never hurt Hanji again for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincerest apologies to anyone that just read that. That “healthy dose of angst” tag was definitely a lie. This is most certainly an unhealthy amount on angst.


	5. Balls (lol see what i did there)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Veterans go to a military ball at the capitol. MPs can be assholes, Levi and Hanji deal with them together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like Levihan slow dancing:)

The annual military ball was being held at the capitol and, as usual, most of the survey corps squad leaders and high ranking officials were expected to attend the event. Of course everyone was dreading it. The survey corps was not exactly well liked by almost everyone in the capitol, which was ridiculous considering that they were the ones fighting and dying everyday for the sake of humanity. But that was where the upper-class resided, and they weren’t particularly fond of how much taxes they paid to keep the corps up and running. Since most had never come within a hundred miles of a titan the need for fighting against them seemed foreign and unnecessary. 

However, non of this was that big of a deal, after all no one joined the corps for the sake of gratitude and recognition. What was the most annoying part of the event was being talked down to by a bunch of pretentious Military Police that had never even seen a single titan battle in their life, much less been a part of one. Then being expected to interact normally with civilians as if you hadn’t been on an expedition seconds from death probably mere days beforehand, or just recently lost a comrade, or seen things that anyone outside the survey corps couldn’t conjure up in their darkest nightmares. Every second it it felt so fake, like they were playing house. All the small talk, the formalities, you wouldn’t believe how often they would talk about the fucking weather. It took every ounce of self control for a squad leader not to singlehandedly murder every single man, women, and child who whispered as they passed, disrespecting their subordinated that had given their lives to protect them.

Hanji had arrived in the capitol a day early in order to purchase a dress for the event. She couldn’t reuse the dress from last year because she had acquired a few new scares that the old one wouldn’t cover. At this point she would need a full length, long sleeve, turtleneck to hide all of her damaged skin. 

The shopkeeper that had been helping her was quite young and had clearly been hired within the past year because, even though Hanji mentioned that she was in the survey corps, the women kept bringing her revealing dresses with large chucked cut out of the sides and back. 

“Listen honey, just bring me your most conservative dress you got, I don’t care how ugly it is.” 

The women gasped dramatically, “But the military ball is the event of the year! Don’t you want to look beautiful for it?” 

She was young and naïve and Hanji couldn’t bring herself to tell her that looking pretty for a ball was about number 753 on her list of priorities. 

“The more skin I cover the more beautiful I will be. Plus, I’m sure all the dresses in this store are quite nice, regardless of coverage.” 

“But that simply not true!” the woman urged in her bubbly voice, “Listen, I know you people in the survey corps have scares, but if you just show me I’m sure a can find you a dress that will cover them. Pleeease! Everyone here is so mean to you guys and you probably don’t want to even go to the ball, but I appreciate what you do and the least I can do is offer you my services as a thanks.” 

Hanji sighed, the woman was clearly not getting it and the fastest way to move on was to just show her. It wasn’t that Hanji was particularly embarrassed by her scars, it was more that it would be an uncomfortable situation for the other party involved. They all had the same reaction, surprise and disbelief followed by being extremely uncomfortable and awkward for the duration of the conversation. 

“Fine” Hanji stated curtly before undressing down to her underwear. 

The shopkeeper stared at her with the same opened mouth gape as every other civilian that had ever seen her not fully clothed. Interestingly, tears started to form in the woman’s eyes, something that hadn’t ever happened, and Hanji made up her mind that she might like the woman after all. After circling Hanji a few times, the woman disappeared into the back for a long time. She returned bearing an elegant, short sleeved, champagne colored evening gown that was laced up the back with a few decorative cuts out of the sides. To Hanji’s surprise the cuts fell perfectly at the only two unblemished spots on her waist. The woman excused herself then returned once again after an extended time with a pair of long gloves that also fitted perfectly over all of the scares on her arms and faded into lace at the bottom where one ringlet of fabric looped around her middle finger. 

“There are a couple placed on the back that I will have to sew on some decorative flowers or bows, but other than that what do you think?” 

Hanji didn’t give two shits about the dress, but the fact that this woman was working so diligently to thank her in the only was she new how was an act of kindness she had never experienced this deep inside the walls. 

“It gorgeous.” She breathed, “Thank you, really.” 

 

Levi was lurking menacingly in the corner of the ball, focusing very hard on controlling his anger. He had already caused an event a few years prior that had nearly gotten the survey corps kicked out and the last thing they needed this year was an even worse reputation.

Erwin had abandoned him to go talk business with some government officials. Levi wasn’t sure how he could do it, but Erwin fit in perfectly with them. He knew just the right things to say to push their buttons and get the information he needed. It was no small feat and Levi admired him for it. 

The rest of the squad leaders were probably off sulking in their respective corners. Hanji had been running late as always and the only way he could think of calming down was to get some alcohol in his system. He was pouring himself a drink when he suddenly felt as if someone was watching him. He locked eyes with a brown haired woman across the punch table from him and surprisingly enough she didn’t look away.

Oh god was she going to try and talk to him? 

Occasionally inebriated women would flirt with him at these events and this was the last thing Levi had the patience for at the moment. Luckily he had a death glare that could probably kill a man and he promptly made use of that skill. But, the woman didn’t look away, she didn’t even flinch. 

“What is happening, what should I do?” He frantically thought, but he couldn’t move. 

Something about those dark brown eyes kept him glued to the spot. She began to approach him and the way she confidently strolled through the thick crowd, the people parting for her like the sea, captivated him. What was happening? Every inch of her moved with a graceful power that demanded his full attention. The way she held her studded clutch, the way the dress fabric undulated when she walked, the way her hair fell in loose messy curls framing her face, menial things that suddenly seemed like the most important things in the world. Levi’s brain desperately tried to take mental images to file away. The woman was now only a few feet in front of him and she parted her flawless lips to speak. 

“Is that you shorty? I’m not wearing my glasses and I can’t see jack.” 

Levi choked on the sip of punch in his mouth and half of it went spurting out of his nose. He coughed furiously after a large volume of liquid went down the wrong pipe. 

“Aha, I knew it was you! I’m getting better at this recognizing blurry shapes thing. You were easy cause I just had to look for the shortest man in the room, but I’ll still give myself props. What wrong with you by the way, forget how to swallow?” 

Levi hacked a few more times before croaking out, “your late, not fare. Now suffer like the rest of us.” 

“Ya sorry about that, a nice lady I met at the dress store helped me do my hair and makeup and insisted that I go without my glasses so I got a little lost on the way here.” 

Levi let out a grunt of displeasure that Hanji was able to understand the meaning of due to years of interpreting his non verbal communication. 

“Why are you mad at me when were surrounded by hundreds of flaming assholes much more deserving of your ire?” 

Levi was upset that he had been ogling Hanji motherfucking Zoe of all people, but he wasn’t about to admit that in a million years. 

“Don’t think I’m going to stop calling you four eyes just because you’re not wearing the glasses.” 

Hanji barked out a laugh causing some of the ball guests to turn and stare. “I wouldn’t want it any other way pintsize.”

In her current attire Hanji was easily mistaken for a Mitras citizen, which led to endless amusement for the the scientist. Not only could she observe how the military police and civilians behaved when they thought they were in the presence of one of their own, but they were also more likely to divulge interesting and potentially useful information. 

For the past forty minutes or so she had been humoring the string of government officials and their progeny lining up to dance with her. Hanji had always quite enjoyed dancing, the movement seemed not unlike those of fighting to her. Although, ballroom dancing admittedly wasn’t her favorite type. 

Putting up with the endless narcissism and pretentiousness of these people was getting a little much at the moment, regardless of the payoff. If one more doucher in his early twenties condescendingly described to her the ranking system of the military Hanji swore she would gouge out their eyes with their own severed fingers. She locked eyes with Levi from across the dance floor and make the “save me” look she knew he would understand. Just as she had predicted, when the song came to an end Levi was there to replace William Reginald Tunt the Third as her new dance partner. 

Levi had never had any strong feelings for or against dancing, but was forced to learn at least the basics a long time ago specifically for these occasions. He placed a steady and on Hanji’s lower back and held the other on from of them for her to grasp. The music began right as she placed a hand on his shoulder and they were off. All the songs sounded practically the same to Levi. Same tempo, same beat, same instruments; it was exceedingly boring, but at least it was easy to dance to. 

“God that last kid nearly made me blow my brains out,” she muttered in hushed tones, then in a mocking imitation, ”‘The Military Police are the most skilled branch of the military, my bothers in it so I would know.’”

“Don’t look for sympathy from me, you’re doing this to yourself.” Levi deadpanned.

“Yes but the rumors are just so juicy I can’t help myself. For example, did you know Gerald Malts over there is allergic to goat’s milk and defecated in his pant the first time he drank it.”

This drew a slight chuckle from the captain. “And how exactly is that in anyway useful to us?” 

“Oh I’m learning useful stories as well. I’ll brief everyone on them during the next meeting.” She assured. 

For the first time in a nearly ten songs the music significantly changed. The tempo slowed measurably and the couples on the floor adjusted their dancing accordingly. This entailed drawing nearer to one another and decelerating the rate at which they moved in circles…riveting stuff. At least it was something new, Levi admitted to himself. Plus, it gave him a reason to be closer to Hanji, though he wasn’t exactly sure why he was considering that a benefit. 

“These heels are really not doing my feet any favors. I shouldn’t have listened to that shopkeep and worn them.” Hanji spoke practically directly into his ear, that’s just how close they were. 

“Serves you right for for trusting someone from the interior.” Levi jeered, but then pulled her in closer and began supporting more of her weight. 

“You’re probably right.” She admitted, then turned her attention to scanning the room around them. 

One of the side effects of being in the survey corps was the need to constantly be hyper aware of your surrounding. She saw Nanaba, who appeared to be avoiding as much conversation as possible by posting up near the sparsely occupied non-alcoholic beverages table. When the woman looked up and saw Hanji she gave her a wide toothy smile and thumbs up. Hanji mimicked the gesture, though was not entirely sure what it was referring to. She returned her attention to Levi and decided to focus on what would probably be one of the only enjoyable experiences of the night. 

“Remind me to teach you real dancing one day.” 

“Why do I have the haunting suspicion that your version of ‘real dancing’ is something to be avoided at all costs.” 

Hanji grinned wildly, knowing that her comrade was probably spot on. “You’ll love it I swear!” 

 

Three shin bruises and a knocked over table later Hanji decided to go back and retrieve her glasses. Levi decided he better go as well or risk her falling into the river, plus it would take some skill to sneak out without anyone from the corps noticing. It was generally agreed upon that if they had to suffer it should be together and ditching their comrades at a time like this was akin to desertion. 

Once they were out on the streets they fell into a comfortable pace, Hanji taking hold of Levis arm for guidance. They walked in silence, which wasn’t abnormal for them. That was another thing Levi loved about their friendship, they could just be, there was no pressure to constantly carry on a conversation. Oftentimes they hung out for hours without saying a single word, just enjoying each others company. This was especially beneficial to Levi who had never been a man of many words. 

Now that he thought about it Hanji was about the only person he could do this with. After Isabel and Farlan passed he never really talked to anyone, or had any friends for that matter, until Hanji took an interest in him and forced him to hangout with the rest of the soldiers. Was that on purpose or was she just that oblivious to his obvious dislike of them in the beginning? And along that train of thought Hanji was literally incapable of shutting up around anyone else. Did she purposely hold her tongue around him to make him more comfortable? Just exactly how many things had she done for him in the past that had gone unnoticed? 

“Thanks for walking me back Levi”, Hanji sang in her sweet melodic voice. Her comment cut through his reverie and he snapped back to reality (oh there goes gravity). 

“No problem,” he muttered, “we look out for each other. That’s what we do.” Hanji was taken aback by this sudden and very unusually sentimental statement, but she had long ago come to terms with the fact that Levi was a very hard man to read and if you were ever lucky enough to receive any vocal displays of affection you should be extremely grateful, and maybe go buy a lottery ticket. 

“You got that right Shorty”, she replied, making no effort to conceal her smile as she leaned down and proceeded to plant a big slobbery kiss right on his cheek. 

 

By the time they returned the night was drawing to a close and Hanji decided to spend the remainder of her time fucking with the military police. She had overheard a number of them trash talking the corps and nonchalantly nosed her way into the group. 

“They act all high and mighty cause they fight the titans, but the only reason they didn’t join the Military Police was because their scores weren’t high enough.” A tall golden haired man with a well groomed goatee boasted. 

“Exactly!” A woman in an overly extravagant dress dyed MP forest green exclaimed, “It’s like there isn’t even a comparison, we’ve already proven ourselves superior in training.” 

“I swear to god there’s something wrong with their heads too.” Another man asserted. “One of them came right up to me earlier and smelled me! Just walked right up, took a whiff and left without saying a word.” 

This remark earned a snicker from the group and Hanji took the opportunity to join the conversation. 

“I bet if you beat them on a training course it would shut them up for a while.” 

“Ya that would be the day,” Golden Goatee remarked, “but they would never agree to such a competition, wouldn’t want to embarrass themselves.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Hanji asked as she reached for a glass of champagne, displaying her wings of freedom bracelet that had conveniently remained hidden till now. 

The whole group fell dead silent and color drained from Golden Goatee’s face. Hanji brushed her hair out of her face making a point of revealing a rather large scar on her neck in an attempt at coming off as a little more badass. They didn’t need to know that it was actually a result of getting burned by one of her titan research subjects when she attempted to hug it. However, this intimidation technique seemed to pay off splendidly since a number of soldier audibly gasped. 

“See I think a friendly competition between the military branches is a great idea.”

They were backed into a corner now with no way of weaseling their way out of this one. Hanji beckoned Erwin to come over and join the conversation, and by the look on her face Erwin knew she was up to something good. After explaining the situation Erwin couldn’t help but chuckle, maybe this weekend in the interior wouldn’t be as terrible as he had predicted. Plus this could be an opportunity to demonstrate the corps skills and usefulness. 

“I think that a fantastic idea!” Erwin declared. “In fact, I’m good friends with Commander Nile Dok and I’m sure he would be on board.” 

The realization of just how much shit they had gotten themselves into dawned on many of the soldiers and they all looked to Golden Goatee, supposedly the leader of the group, to get them out of it. But there was no clear solution and Erwin excused himself to go speak with Nile before anyone got the chance to think of one. 

“Well, I should be heading back for the night, but I’m sure I’ll see you all again very, very soon.” Hanji finished with a sinister inflection. 

Indeed, this weekend might not be as bad as any of them had imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter that will have a follow up chapter taking place directly after it.


End file.
